


In Sickness and in Health

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: On and On [2]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Drama, F/M, Family, Future Fic, Gen, Illnesses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-09
Updated: 2017-02-09
Packaged: 2018-09-23 01:09:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9633353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: “We should probably let that go too.  Let it swirl down the same drain as I'm sorry.”





	

“Noah, its Captain Ed. Let me in, buddy.”

Noah rushed over to the door, stood on his tiptoes, and unlocked it. Ed walked into the condo and looked at both Noah and his mother. “What happened?”

“Noah overreacted a little, Ed. I didn’t mean to scare him but I'm fine.”

“She fainted.” Noah’s tone was matter of fact.

“You fainted?”

“I didn’t lose consciousness, I just felt faint.” Liv said. “It came over me suddenly. I guess I'm lucky I made it over to the couch.”

“You look clammy, a bit green around the gills.” Ed said. “Did you eat anything questionable today?”

“No, I didn’t even have time for lunch this afternoon. I usually make time but I just couldn’t today. That’s probably why I felt faint.”

“Noah, I want you to do me a favor. Can you go into your room and watch some TV? I’ll take care of things out here.”

“Yeah,” Noah nodded. “OK, Captain Ed.”

Liv was a bit jealous of the ease at which Ed could get Noah to do things. It wasn’t always an argument with mother and son but Noah could quickly find an alternative to paying attention. Liv had lost her temper once or twice; hating herself afterwards. With Ed though, Noah rarely had a word to say. 

Even when he did Ed had a ready comeback. Was he just a better parent than she was? Maybe not better but surely more seasoned. He watched Noah go into the bedroom and then looked at Liv again. This was about more than missing lunch this afternoon.

“You upper lip is sweating.” Ed said.

“I didn’t want to scare Noah but I do feel nauseous and disoriented. Ed, it came over me so suddenly like a freight train.”

“OK, OK, we’ll take care of this.” He walked over to the couch and scooped her into his arms.

“Oh for God’s sake Tucker, put me down. I'm not a damsel in distress. C'mon.” Liv sighed. She was doing her best not to just rest her body on his. Damn, he smelled good. Also, three years later and he could still carry her as if she weighed no more than a couple of grocery bags. That was sexy as hell.

“Under the circumstances I'm going to shush you for the moment. Normally I would never but the truth is that you're easier to carry now then picking you up from the carpet in a few minutes when you faint.”

“I feel so helpless.” She groaned.

“Shush Benson, you're fine.”

In her bedroom for the second time since they met again at Target seven weeks ago, Ed gently placed Liv onto the bed. He had her rest against the pillows and not sitting up as he ignored the warmth and butterflies in his belly.

“The first thing we need to do is take your temperature so we can see what we’re dealing with. Do you still keep a thermometer in the master bathroom?”

“Yes.” Liv nodded. She could've argued, it wasn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility. But two things that she learned in the past year and a half was that she was her own worst enemy and it was OK to accept help when you needed it. Being a superhero was overrated. It also caused wrinkles and bad ankles.

“Alright, let's see what's going on.” Ed walked back into the bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed. “Open up.”

Liv did it without question. She made a promise to herself that she wouldn’t be too much of a pain in the ass patient. It was good that Ed was there; she didn’t want to scare Noah any further by actually fainting in front of him. When the thermometer beeped, Liv relaxed her tongue as Ed pulled it out of her mouth.

“Is it bad?”

“Um, 101.2…you're definitely ill. Do you have sickness contingency plans?”

“I would if I knew what you were talking about.”

“Who’s going to take care of you and Noah?” Ed asked.

“I can take care of myself.” Liv replied. “I don’t mean that in an invincible way, just a truthful way. Normally when I'm sick I just suck it up and take care of things.”

“You can't do that with this kind of fever. I can help if you need me to.”

“You don’t think you do enough, Ed?”

“I do exactly what I do, Olivia, there's no point in arguing if it’s too much or not enough.”

Liv sighed and nodded, unsure what to say next. She needed him to care for Noah full time for a few days so she could really rest. This scourge had been lurking for at least three days; Liv brushed off symptoms. There was work to do, a child to raise, Liv didn’t want to be a martyr but she was on her own for the most part. Sometimes that meant trudging on through sickness. For the past seven weeks, Ed had been a wonderful co-parent. 

One day on the weekends and every Wednesday evening was all about Noah. Liv could even call him to pick up Noah from his afterschool program if she had errands or just wanted to come straight home after a long day. Ed didn’t ask for a thing in return, spending time with Noah was his reward. And of course the six year old enjoyed every minute. Being an engaged father didn’t mean he and Liv were partners in any other way though. 

While Ed’s overall warmth despite it all put Liv in a slightly more comfortable position than one would normally be in their situation, she had no intention of ever taking advantage of it. What a lot of people didn’t know, or maybe they did, was that Ed Tucker could be sweet and kind without much effort. Liv didn’t want to see his righteous anger emerge if she pushed too hard. She wasn’t afraid of him but part of her felt that she deserved whatever he might want to dish out. It was something she was working on in therapy.

“Your prolonged silence tells me that I get to come up with the plan here. Am I hearing you correctly? It’s been awhile but I think I'm still mostly good on prolonged Liv silences.”

“Give me a few minutes to collect my thoughts. My head is a bit fuzzy. Could you check on Noah? I'm sure he's worried about me.”

“Of course. I’ll bring you back some water and some tea to help you relax.”

“There’s chamomile and ginger in the cabinet…either would be fine. I’ll change into something more comfortable while you're gone.”

Nodding, Ed got up from the bed. He went over to Liv’s second drawer and pulled out a pair of pajama pants and a tee shirt. It was uncomfortable still knowing where everything was but it stopped Ed from opening the wrong drawer and getting an eyeful of lacy unmentionables. He left the clothes where he'd been sitting before walking out of the room. In Noah’s room the television was playing SpongeBob. Noah sat on his bed, back against the wall, and the Dinosaur Encyclopedia open in his lap. His finger traced lines across the page as he read aloud in a low voice.

“Hey bud, are you doing OK in here?” Ed asked as he stepped further into the bedroom.

“Yeah.” He looked up from his reading. “Is Mommy OK?”

“She's not feeling well but she’s going to be alright. It’s going to take a few days of rest before she’s feeling like herself again. She’ll rest this weekend.”

“Who's going to take care of me while she rests?” Noah asked.

“I am.” Ed replied.

“Promise?”

“Hey,” Ed sat down on the bed. “Look at me, Noah. You don’t have to keep asking me if I promise because I always promise. I do my very best never to make you promises I can't keep. Being honest and making sure you're alright is my top priority. I love you very much so when I say I'm going to take care of you, I 100% mean it.”

“OK.” Noah nodded. Then he held up his littlest finger. “Pinky swear?”

“Yeah.” Ed laughed as he wrapped his finger around Noah’s. It wasn’t Noah’s fault, he'd been let down a few times in his young life. Never on purpose but sometimes life handed you a bad hand. Some of that fell on Ed and he carried that guilt for the longest time. He wasn’t going to do that anymore. He also wasn’t going to let Noah down. 

He didn’t want to let Liv down either but that was a whole other chapter for another night. They were partners, not that kind of partners and he had to remember that. In this kind of situation it was easy for lines to blur. Three hearts were involved in this but Ed decided seven weeks ago that Noah’s was the most important. “I'm going to make Mom some soup and tea so she can sleep. Can you just hang out in here and read your book?”

“OK, Captain Ed.”

“If you need anything come and tell me.”

“I will.”

Noah went back to his dinosaurs and Noah went out to the kitchen. Liv only had tomato, minestrone, and New England clam chowder in her cabinets but he found a can of chicken broth. As he poured it into a small pot and put it on the stove, Ed also filled and heated the teakettle. It wouldn’t take it long to be ready. He knew that Liv needed to have something on her stomach and keep down fluids. 

Fifteen minutes later he was walking back into her bedroom with a tray. While he didn’t have pen and paper handy, Ed was making mental notes of things he needed to pick up to help Liv. He was also packing a small bag in his head of things he would need for a few days at her place. She had dozed off, holding the tee shirt to her chest but never quite finding the energy to put it on. Ed was only human, he chastised his body for having even the slightest reaction to seeing her in a bra. Putting the tray on the bed, he gently shook her shoulder to wake her.

“Put your shirt on and then I want you to have some broth and tea.”

“OK.”

She did as she was told, managing a weary but genuine smile as she finally got her shirt on, her bra off, and pulled the tray in front of her.

“My hero.” She said.

“I'm out of the hero business.” Ed shook his head. “Do you have any medicine?”

“I know I definitely have kid medicine for Noah. There might be some of the good Nyquil in my medicine cabinet but it’s probably expired.”

“Even expired medicine retain about 85% of their potency. The date is just a guide…they even put expiration dates on water these days. You don’t have to eat all the broth but it’s good to put something on your stomach. It'll help with both the nausea and lightheadedness. I'm not being too much of a mother hen, am I?”

“You're fine. Is Noah alright?”

“He's reading and watching SpongeBob in his room. Unless you're dead set against it, I’ll just stay here over the weekend, well tonight through Monday morning so I can help Noah get ready for school in the mornings. Hopefully this isn't the flu and you should be back on your feet by Monday. Noah’s had his flu shot, right?”

“We never miss it.” Liv replied. “I just don’t want to put you out, Ed. I appreciate the help but feel like I'm taking advantage of you.”

“You're not doing that. You’re sick and I told you that you didn’t have to do this on your own. You deserve to rest and not have to worry about Noah. I don’t want to overstep but…”

“We should probably let that go too.” Liv said before she ate a spoonful of broth. “Let it swirl down the same drain as I'm sorry.”

“And I promise.” Ed looked at her. He'd been looking out of one of her bedroom windows, the rain was back again. It was early May but April showers hadn’t brought flowers. He was surprised that with as much rain as they'd had in the past few weeks that the island hadn’t floated away. It was hell on his mood but Ed was working on that.

“What about I promise?”

“I told Noah, gently of course, that he doesn’t have to ask me if I promise after I tell him things. I know he's still dealing with trusting that this situation is lasting but I make it my business to be as honest as one can be with a six year old. I don’t intend to make promises I can't keep. Wanna know his response to that?”

Yes, yes Liv absolutely wanted to know her son’s response to that.

“He asked me to pinky swear.”

“Oh Ed,” she put her hand on her chest. “Don’t make me laugh. I have a feeling it won't end well. Noah trusts you with his life and you know that. Right now he just needs the constant reassurance that you won't leave. That’s my fault, I didn’t do the right thing when the relationship ended. I didn’t even know how to.”

“It’s alright. If I have to pinky swear until the kid is 16 then that’s what I’ll do. His bedtime is by 8:15, right?”

“Yes.’” Liv nodded.

“My plan is to blow up the air mattress and bunk in Noah’s room for a long weekend. If you feel better before Monday morning then of course I’ll get out of your hair.”

“You hate that air mattress if memory serves.”

It was at that moment that Ed realized that Noah’s matter of fact tone came directly from his mother. That made him smile.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll grab some extra blankets form the linen closet and make it nearly comfortable. I should probably inflate it now…don’t want to disturb Noah when he's trying to sleep.”

“And Ronin will be OK?” she asked. “I'm sick, I do need help, but I don’t want to disrupt your life.”

“Don’t let your broth and tea get cold; I’ll take care of things on my end. After I start inflating the air mattress, I'm going to step outside for about five minutes. Do you need anything?”

Liv shook her head and watched him walk out. She still hadn’t had much opportunity to talk to him about everything. Actually, she had but couldn’t find a way to bring it up. Ed told her that he preferred going forward to back but she couldn’t deny that their venture into co-parenting and being friends—were they friends—had stirred so many feelings in her belly. She was seeing her therapist twice a week again, having barely scratched the surface of Ed in particular while getting pretty deep about men in general. 

Liv had made a lot of mistakes in her life…she was human and that was expected. Ed Tucker was one of her biggest regrets. The breakup with him was the turning point when she realized that very little she did made her happy or fulfilled her anymore. Liv intended to repress the reasons why, though that hadn’t been helpful thus far, and then three bullets had another idea altogether. Target also felt the need to get involved though it took its precious time doing so. As a matter of fact, so had the bullets.

“Tucker.” She called him though doubted he could hear over the air pump going in Noah’s room. For a moment Liv thought of texting him, asking him to come into her room and talk. Scoffing, she brushed off the urge to spill her guts. Instead she focused on finishing her tea. 

She was exhausted and doing something like that tonight wasn’t a good idea. There would be a time but it wasn’t now. Ed was there to help, just to help. It was probably a good idea to stop trying to define, right now, what that word meant and just be appreciative that she wasn’t alone.

***


End file.
